Chapter Thirty

 

 

 

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

“Okay, Kelly. Let’s pull that shirt up and take a look at the baby.”

Dr. Alvarez was all smiles when she walked into our exam room the next morning. Kelly had taken the whole day off of work and I wasn’t due to go on shift until the next morning. Despite our crappy night the evening before, we were both vibrating with nervous energy. I couldn’t wait to see our baby.

Owens took the image we’d found taped on the door and promised to drop it off with his stepfather after he met Megan for lunch that day. There was no guarantee that it had anything to do with our recycled wedding gift, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Where the underwear felt like someone was messing with our minds, the photo had intended to do damage to our relationship.

The image of my wife falling apart when she’d seen that photo was burned into my brain. I had seen Kelly cry before, hell- I’d seen her break down. I had never seen her broken, though, until that moment. And I knew I’d do anything in my power to never see her broken again.

Kelly did as the doctor said and I reached my hand out to touch her stomach briefly before looking back to the doctor. “Is it normal for her stomach to still be so flat?”

“It’s not flat,” my wife replied with a roll of her eyes, flinching slightly when the doctor squirt some gel onto it. She smiled apologetically and picked up the ultrasound wand.

“Women don’t show as quickly with their first pregnancies. Couple that with how fit Kelly already is and the amount of time spent at the gym, it’s normal. The fact that we have a five pound weight gain from the last time I saw you is definitely in my ‘win’ column.” She pressed the wand to Kelly’s stomach and all of our eyes went to the screen. “So, I’m going to measure the baby and check out all of our limbs and vital organs. Do you want to know the sex if I can see it?”

My eyes met her deep blue ones and I raised my brows. I wanted to know desperately but Kelly didn’t. She had given me the go ahead to learn if I really wanted to, so long as I promised to keep it a secret, but it was all or nothing for me.

“We want it to be a surprise,” I answered, bringing our conjoined hands up so I could kiss the top of hers. “Everything about this baby has been a surprise so why change that now?”

Kelly’s eyes glazed over with tears and she squeezed my hand before whispering, “I love you.”

Dr. Alvarez grinned at the two of us and nodded before looking back to the screen. “Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll alternate between saying ‘she’ and ‘he’ for the remainder of the pregnancy just because saying ‘it’ seems too impersonal to me. Don’t read anything into my pronouns, though.”

She pointed out everything. The baby’s eyes, nose, mouth, fingers, heart, kidneys, feet, and even some hair that was already on its head. When we got to the heartbeat, the noise was fast and she just nodded approvingly and said it was normal.

“Have no fear about the size of her stomach Nick because this little one is measuring perfectly for twenty-one weeks. And if you look right here…” She pointed to something on the screen. “You’ll see that she is sucking her on her fingers.”

The image was absolutely perfect. I didn’t know if it was a little boy who’d be Kelly’s shadow or a little girl that would insist on being a firefighter one day but I knew I’d do anything for that child growing in her stomach. I would slay monsters, tear down walls, and conquer the world for that baby and the woman who’d helped me create it.

I’d do anything for my family.

“Are you feeling any movements yet?” Dr. Alvarez asked but Kelly shook her head.

“No. Is that bad?”

“Not at all.” The doctor pulled the wand from her stomach and placed it back with the machine. “I expect you to feel flutters in the next few weeks and the movements will start to sharpen around twenty-five weeks.”

“I can’t wait for that,” I murmured, kissing the top of Kelly’s hand. She turned and flashed a bright smile in my direction but didn’t say anything.

“Okay. I want you to keep taking your vitamins, keep your water intake around ninety ounces, and keep the weight lifting under twenty-five pounds. You’re not doing chest presses anymore, right?”

Kelly sat up and took the towel to wipe off her stomach while she shook her head. “No, I stopped doing those after the first appointment. While we’re on the subject, can you please tell my husband to back off?”

“Hey.” I frowned and handed Kel her jacket. “I just worry about you guys.”

Dr. Alvarez grinned at us both. “Listen to your body, Kelly. No lunges, no chest presses, and keep the weights lower than you normally would. As long as she’s not overdoing it, Nick, she’s okay. I promise.” She reached out and pat my shoulder before handing us a strip of pictures. “Call the office if you need anything, otherwise I’ll see you in a month.”

“I’m going to put one of these up in my bunk,” I murmured, looking at the pictures of our baby. “The guys are going to make fun of me for days but I don’t even give a shit.”

Kelly took my hand and stepped down from the table with a smile on her face. “If they only knew what a softy you truly were, Nickolas. You’d be cast out of the company.”

“Hush woman.” I used the palm of my free hand to lightly smack her glorious ass, causing her to jump slightly. Her only response was to flash me another smile over her shoulder and I followed her to the reception desk so we could check out.

Once we were back in my car, I backed us out of my parking spot and turned towards the street. “Lunch?”

“Yes, please. I really want a freakin’ hamburger. Meat sounds so good and so disgusting at the same time.” My wife rubbed her tiny belly and I chuckled as I reached over to touch her, too.

“How about a black bean burger from Veg Out, hot stuff?”

Kelly’s hand covered my own and she sighed. “Sounds perfect. I made an appointment at the DMV for twelve-thirty.”

Just hearing that made my heart rate increase. “Yeah? What are you going to do there?”

“Well.” Kelly’s fingers moved to the back of my head and it was all I could do to keep myself from purring. “I was thinking that I’d hang out, meet some new friends, and maybe change my name. I mean, if that’s okay with you. I can stay a Gold if you’d prefer.”

We stopped at a red light and I immediately leaned across the console so I could press a kiss to her lips. “The thought of you having my name is such a fucking turn on that I want to pull over and take you in the backseat again.”

A small whimper escaped her mouth and I swallowed it up with another kiss. I would have been happy to sit in the car and continue making out with my hot wife but a car behind us laid on the horn and I pulled away so I could drive through the green light.

Kelly was breathing heavily and I could see the rise and fall of her breasts in my peripheral vision. The hormones made her a sex fiend, not that I was complaining, and I took great joy in teasing her. The text messages we exchanged when we were at work were racy enough to make Hugh Hefner blush and we’d had sex against every wall and on every surface in our bedroom. She was no longer an awkward sexter and was quite skilled as a sexual wordsmith.

“I can’t decide if I’m hungrier for food or you,” she said a minute later, her breathing still slightly labored. I laughed and brought her hand to my mouth so I could kiss her fingers.

“Let’s feed you and the baby real food, sweetheart. After the DMV, I’ll take you home and we won’t resurface until dinner time.”

“Deal.”

I drove us to her favorite restaurant and ordered myself something that didn’t sound too vegan. I wouldn’t admit it to Kelly, but I didn’t mind her lifestyle. I loved a good steak or hamburger, of course, but I wasn’t deprived when we ate her way. I had learned quite a few vegetarian dishes to make for her at home and loved surprising her with a homemade dinner after work.

After lunch, we drove to the DMV, which wasn’t as busy as I’d been anticipating. We sat in the lobby for about fifteen minutes before her number was called and the paperwork took another thirty. By the time we were done, Kelly was walking out with a piece of paper that legally declared her as Kelly Renee Christos.

Christos. That woman officially had my last name. And fuck if that didn’t turn me on even more.

“Ready to go home?”

I nodded as we stopped at her door. Instead of pulling it open for her, I gripped her hips and shoved her against the car before capturing her lips. The kiss wasn’t sweet and it wasn’t gentle. It was a promise of things to come. Kelly wasn’t a docile person, though, and her tongue met mine thrust for thrust as her hands gripped fistfuls of my shirt. When she started trying to grind her hips to mine, I remembered we were in a parking lot and mustered every ounce of energy I had to pull back.

“Let’s go home, Mrs. Christos.”

Her blue eyes were darker than normal and glazed over with lust as she nodded twice, breathing heavily. “Home. Need you. Now.”

It took us fifteen minutes to get back to the complex and the second the car was off, both of our doors were open. Kelly met me at the hood of the car and threw her arms around me. I lifted her easily and her legs snaked around my waist as her lips met mine. I kept my eyes open during the kiss, unwilling to stop kissing my wife but not wanting to chance hurting her or the baby by tripping or dropping them.

Pressing her body to the wall beside the door, I fumbled with the keys until it was open and we could push through. If anyone else was in that living room, I had no idea. Even the dog knew better than to bother us as I walked towards the bedroom and slammed the door behind us. Both of our jackets made it to the floor and I almost tripped as I kicked off my shoes.

“You need to be naked, Kelly. Right now.” I dropped her to the bed and reached for the button of her jeans. Her small hands pushed me away before I could undo it, though.

“Let me. I don’t need you to know just how tight these are right now.”

Once she had them open, I stripped her of her pants in just seconds and made quick work of the shirt she’d been wearing. I stared down at my wife, her creamy skin on display as she wore only a red bra and a small pair of black underwear and her brown hair fanned out on the pillow behind her. Her chest heaved with each breath she took and her stomach looked rounder from that angle. The image almost brought me to my knees.

“I love you so much, Kel.”

Her face softened and she reached one hand up to cup my cheek. “I love you, too, Nicky. Make love to me?”

“You don’t even have to ask, sweetheart.” I unhooked her bra, dragged her underwear down, and started undressing myself at a much more deliberate pace. Gone was the need to fuck her senseless and a desire to be a part of her burned in its’ place.

As soon as I was completely naked, I crawled up the bed until my chest was pressed to hers. Our lips met again and we kissed deeply and passionately, stoking the flames of need that that were taking over every nerve in my body.

With one smooth thrust, my body was inside of hers and the feeling was even better than the last time we’d been connected like that. Being with Kelly was like being on a whole different level and somehow, even after being with her hundreds of times before, it felt just as new and exciting as the first time.

“Nick,” she gasped, hooking one of her legs around me to pull me in deeper. “Don’t stop.”

My teeth were clenched together in an effort not to lose my mind prematurely and I found an even tempo with my hips that I knew would drive her absolutely crazy. She met my thrusts with ones of her own and her body shuddered just moments later with an orgasm that had her crying my name.

When her body relaxed again, I picked up the pace and bent her legs slightly to change the angle. I leaned down and captured one of her nipples with my teeth. She cried out in shock and pleasure and brought a hand up so she could tease the other sensitive breast. I lavished her skin with my tongue and teeth, loving the way she tasted.

She shook her head after a moment and the nails of her other hand dug into my back. Her whole body began to tighten and I released her nipple so I could put my lips to her ear.

“You’re going to come for me again, aren’t you, Kelly?”

“Yes!” she cried, turning her head so our mouths could meet. Just seconds later, she tipped her chin back and her loud moan echoed in the bedroom. She went taut with pleasure and I couldn’t hold back anymore. The orgasm tore through me like a wrecking ball and I emptied myself inside of her, thrusting until I couldn’t anymore.

We both laid there, completely spent and sweating chest-to-chest for several long moments. I rolled off of her once I was back in control of myself and kept her tucked to my side.

“God, that was amazing,” she mumbled, her lips pressed to my naked chest. “I need a nap now, though.”

I chuckled and hugged her tighter to me. “Sleep, Kelly Christos. You need your rest because I’m not done with you yet.”